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Volunteer Activity Debrief (Grades K-2)
- What did you learn from today’s activity?
- When I asked students to raise their hand if they learned something from today’s lesson, I was excited to see that every student had their hand up! Some of the things that students said they learned included that trees have many parts, that roots help the tree “drink” water, and that bark protects the tree.
- Why do you think programs like the Million Tree Project are important?
- After I explained the Million Tree Project to the class, students said that they think this program is important for various reasons. One student commented that “a million trees would be a lot of oxygen!” Another student said that they think trees are nice to look at, so they think it would be nice to see more trees.
- Did you think this activity was a fun way to learn about trees?
- Students loved the hands-on aspects of this activity! They were excited and eager to touch the different tree parts and try to guess what they were. One student said that the “surprise” was exciting. Another student was excited because they got to engage with real tree parts. The teacher in the classroom commented that they thought the lesson was perfect for their age/ability level and that it was a really engaging way to learn about trees.
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Volunteer Activity Debrief (Grades K-2)
Lesson: Grades K-2 Tree Parts Lesson Plan
Today, I went into a grade 1 classroom to do the “Tree Parts” activity with a great group of students! It went very well, and the students were excited and engaged throughout the whole activity. I started off by teaching students about coniferous and deciduous trees. I showed them pictures of the 2 kinds of trees and had students think about what made each type of tree “special.”
We talked about how coniferous trees have needles while deciduous trees have leaves. We also talked about how deciduous trees lose their leaves in the fall, while coniferous trees keep their needles. The students were able to come to these conclusions on their own! Next, we did the activity. Ahead of time, I prepared 7 bags with tree parts (bark, leaves, branches, roots, pinecones, buds, and pine needles). I drew a coniferous and a deciduous tree on the board behind me. Then, I invited a few students to reach into each bag and use a few words to describe what they felt.
I had the rest of the class try to guess before the students at the front revealed the tree part from the bag. I held it up and asked students where on the tree it belongs, what its function is, and whether it can be found on both coniferous and deciduous trees, or just one. As a consolidation activity, rather than having students draw a picture of a tree, we used playdoh to create tree models! I asked students to make either a coniferous or deciduous tree and to try to include all of the parts we learned about on their models. This was a great way for students to show what they learned!
After teaching the lesson “Tree Parts” to a grade one class, I asked them the following questions about the activity.
